Clean sweep

City of Sonoma Maintenance Worker Wilson Trood, drops a load of leaves from the city’s new 2010 Challenger street sweeper into a waiting truck. Sonoma residents will appreciate that the new sweeper is much quieter than its predecessor, a 1998 Elgin model that was utilized way past its anticipated useful life according to Milenka Bates, the city’s public works director. The new sweeper is a road machine meaning it can be driven at normal speeds and also comes equipped with cameras on the back and on the broom to see what’s being picked up. The purchase of the new vehicle was requested and approved in the 2009/2010 budget.